This invention relates to the construction of cartridges having oxygen-liberating chemicals in general and, in particular, to a new and useful container for supplying oxygen, particularly for respirators, which includes a spark plug for developing heat and oxygen when started which is arranged around the chemical which liberates oxygen so as to aid it in burning and which further includes means for supplying water to the chemical during the burning thereof.
In the known chemical cartridges, even those equipped with an additional spark plug or an ignition device developing oxygen and heat when started to bridge over the initial phase, there may be difficulties with the immediate onset of severe physical stress on the apparatus carrier after the spark plug has burned out, because the production of O.sub.2 by the chemical in the cartridge does not yet correspond to the greater need for O.sub.2.
A known cartridge for respirators, which is equipped with a chemical giving off oxygen under the action of water vapor and/or CO.sub.2, and also with a spark plug developing oxygen and heat when started to bridge over the initial phase of the chemical reaction, has an additional mass around the spark plug which gives off water vapor and/or CO.sub.2 under the action of the heat generated by the spark plug. This mass, arranged around the spark plug or fused-on or sintered-on, contains chemically bound water. Due to the requirement that the mass may only have a low water vapor pressure, or otherwise the water would enter the chemical of the cartridge during storage thereof, a relatively large amount of heat is required to separate the water from the chemical compound. In order to be able to generate an equal amount of water vapor, as it is formed directly from the water, the mass with the chemically bound water would have to have triple or quadruple the volume of the water volume. See German Auslegungschrift No. 26 09 692.